Machine for voicing reeds of harmonicas



Dec. 24,1940. F. JOHNSON 2,225,784

MACHINE FOR VOICING REEDS OF HARMONICA-S Filed Dec. 14, 1939 2Sheets-Sheet 1 a E l a: I a: I a: i a: Q I a: 01::

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' R FRANALUOHNSON Dec. 24, 1940. F. JOHNSON MACHINE FOR VOICING REEDS OFHARMONICAS Filed Dec; 14, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 24, 1940UNITED STATES MACHINE FOR VOICING RIEEDSOF HARMONICASI Frank L. Johnson,Waterbury, Conn. Application December 14,1939; SerialNo. 309,249

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine for voicing reeds of harmonicas andhas for one of its objects the production of a simple and efficientmachine whereby the reeds may be brought to very near accurate pitch ortone through the adjustment of the machine, thereby saving time intuning the reeds.

A further object of this invention is the production of a simple andefficient means for automatically moving the reed plate or plates intoand out of engagement with the cutters.

Another object of this invention is the production of an efficienttongue plate wherein the tongues are punched out in one plate at onestroke of the press and the tongue plate riveted to the base plate withtwo strokes of the press, by placing the tongues and plate in jig andpiercing the rivets from the base plate and heading the rivets; thetongues afterwards being voiced by my improved machine.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the machine, a portion of thereed plate being shown in longitudinal section;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the machine;

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of one of the cutting arms, aportion thereof being shown in section; I 30 Figure 4 is a top plan viewof a portion of the anvil block and reed plate; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of Figure 4.

\ By referring to the drawings, it will be seen 35 that I0 designatesthe bed plate of the machine, which carries the standards II. Thestandards I I support the main shaft I2 within the bearings I3. Tablesupporting blocks I4 are carried by the bed plate In and these blocksare provided with V-shaped channels I5 within which the beveled sideedges I6 of the sliding table I! is mounted. A plurality of standards I8are carried near the rear end of the bed plate I0 and carry acamsupporting shaft I9 upon which the cams 29 and 2I are mounted.

A plurality of cutter arms 22 are carried by the shaft I2, as shown inFigures 1 and 2. An eccentric 23 is carried by the shaft I9 upon whicheccentric is mounted a crank 24 which is pivotally connected at itsforward end, as at 25, to the sliding table I I. This table I! sup portsan anvil block 26 near its outer end and this anvil block 26 constitutesa support for the base plate 28, the tongues being supported upon theanvil 28 as shown in detail in Figure 5.

( Cl. Bil -15) Each cutter arm 22 carries a drive gear 29 which is keyedtothe shaft I2 and this gear 29 meshes with an idle gear 30, the idleear meshing with a gear -3I which carries the cutter 32. The cutter 32projects slightly below the 5 lower edge 33 of the cutter arm 22 in eachinstance. Directly in front of the cutter'32 is arranged a port 34 intowhich fits a tube 35 which tube may be connected to a suitable source ofair pressure for blowing chips and other accu- 10 mulated matter fromthe reed plate upon which the cutters 32 carried by the arms 22 may beoperating. An oil cup 36 is provided upon each arm 22 just above thegear 29, as shown in Figure 3. Through the medium of this oil cup 36, 18the gears 29, 30 and 3| may be properly lubricated.

A roller 31 is carried by the rear end of each arm 22 and these rollers31 engage the cams 2I carried by the shaft I9 for raising and lowering20 the arms 22 which rock upon the shaft I2 as the rollers 31 pass overthe surface of the cams 2I. The roller 31 of each arm 22 is carried by asuitable block 38 which is adjustably mounted within the inner end ofthe arm 22, the block 38 25 being adjustable toward and away from thecam 2| by means of the screw 39, and the block being locked in positionby means of the rightangularly extending screw 40. In this Way, theroller 31 and its supporting block may be adjusted to a nicety, and maybe held in this adjusted position. This adjustment of the roller 31 isprovided to adjust the amount of cut and to take up for wear on thecutters. The gear 3I is preferably formed of bronze and the cutter 32 ispreferably formed of steel, the gear being provided with a threadedextension which is threaded into the center of the cutter providing acentral aperture having a suitable bearing, this being the conventionalmethod employed.

As shown in Figure 2, the anvil block 26 may be mounted in theconventional manner upon the table I! and provided with a suitableadjusting screw 26 for properly positioning the anvil 28 upon the tableH with respect to the cut- 45 ters 32.

The shaft I2 is driven by a motor or other means of power which in turndrives gear 4| by means of a worm 4I keyed to shaft I2. The shaft 42carries a worm gear 43 which is keyed 50 to shaft 42 and is connected toone end of the coil spring 44, the opposite end of the coil spring beingconnected to the sleeve 45 which is slidably mounted upon the shaft 42.The spring 44 is so connected to the worm 43 as to permit the 355 wormto freely rotate independently of the spring 44. This sleeve 45 isconnected to the upper end of a bell crank lever 46, which bell cranklever is pivoted, as at 41, on the bed plate Ill. The opposite end ofthe bell crank lever 46 carries a roller 48 which travels over the faceof the cam 28 and as this roller 48 falls within the recessed portion 49of the cam 20, the spring 44 will throw the worm 43 or pull the worm 43out of engagement with the drive worm 50 carried by the shaft [9. Asuitable means, such for instance, as one type of operating mechanism inthe nature of a control link 5| may be connected to the lever 46 formanually actuating the same to manually swing the lever 46 when desired.When the cam shaft l9 and the cam 28 make one complete revolution, theroller 48 on the lever 46 falls into the recessed or depressed portion49 causing the shaft Hi to discontinue its rotation, thereby stoppingthe table I! in its forward position to permit the operator to removethe reed plate 28 and place the next one in position upon the anvilblock. The cam 20, however, keeps the cam shaft, gear and worm .engagedwhile the cam shaft makes a revolution,

or until theroller 48 falls into the recessed portion 49 of this cam.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the table I! has areciprocating movement and moves forward and backwardly upon thestandards 14, and this operation is occasioned through the medium of thecrank 24 and the eccentric 23 which is carried by the shaft l9. The

main drive shaft l2 which supports the cutter arms 22 also drives theshaft 42 through the medium of the worm drive 4|. This in turn impartsrotary movement to the shaft [8 through the controlled position of theworm 43 when the worm is moved into and out of engagement with the worm50. Through the medium of the cam operation of the cutters 32 atpredetermined intervals, whereby the work may be removed or replaced,the cutter arms 22 being at proper intervals raised and, lowered intocutting positions when the work is brought at timed intervals intocutting positions with respect to the cutters 32. As shown in Figures 1and 2, the shaft 42 is hung upon a yoke 52 which is carried by the shaft[2 and is preferably located to one side of the cutter arms 22, as shownin Figure 1.

In carrying out my invention, I preferably punch the tongues 21 whichconstitute the reeds out in one plate 2'! at one stroke of the press andthen rivet this tongue-carrying plate to the supporting base plate 28 byplacing the tongues and plate in jig and piercing the rivets from theplate and heading the rivets. The tongues then are fed to the cutters 32after being placed upon the anvil block 28, theeccentric 23 moving thetongue-carrying plate under the cutters for voicing the tongues; Thesliding table provides this movement through the operation of theeccentric 23 and the crank 24. The cams 2| raise the back ends of thecutter arms 22 to bring the cutters 32 into contact with the tongueswhen the table is in the correct position.

It should be understood that certain detail changes in the mechanicalconstruction, combinations and arrangements of parts may be employedwithout departing from the spirit of the invention, so long as suchchanges fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed 1. A mechanism of theclass described comprising a base, a work-supporting table reciprocablymounted upon the base, a main drive shaft supported above said table,cutter arms rockably mounted upon the main drive shaft, cutters carriedby the cutter arms and adapted to be brought into and out of engagementwith the workas the arms are rocked, a second shaft carried by the base,means carried by the second shaft for reciprocating the table in timedrelation whereby the work carried by the table Will be brought directlyunder the cutters of the cutting arm as the cutters are moved toward thework, means for driving the second shaft from the drive shaft, said lastmentioned means comprising a third shaft having a worm drive connectionwith the second shaft, an operating lever for rendering the worm driveinactive, and a cam carried by the second shaft engageable by the leverfor controlling the operation of said worm drive means.

2. A mechanism of the. class described comprising a base, awork-supporting table reciprocably mounted upon the base, a main driveshaft supported above said table, cutter arms rockably mounted upon themain drive shaft, cutters carried by the cutter arms and adapted to bebrought into and out of engagement with the work as the arms are rocked,a second shaft carried by the base, means carried by the second shaftfor reciprocating the table in timed relation whereby the work carriedby the table will be brought directly under the cutters of the cuttingarm as the cutters are moved toward the work, means for driving thesecond shaft from the drive shaft, said last mentioned means comprisinga third shaft having a worm drive connection with the second shaft, anoperating lever for rendering the worm drive inactive, a cam carried bythe second shaft engageable by the lever for controlling the operationof said worm drive means, and a coil spring interposed between the leverandthe worm driving means.

3. A mechanism of the class described comprising a base, awork-supporting table reciprocably mounted upon the base, a main driveshaft supported above said table, cutter arms rockably mounted upon themain drive shaft, cutters carried by the cutter arms and adapted to bebrought into and out of engagement with the work as the arms are rocked,a second shaft carried by the base, means carried by the second shaftfor reciprocating the table in timed relation whereby the work carriedby the table will be brought directly under the cutters of the cuttingarm as the cutters are moved toward the work, means for driving thesecond shaft from the drive shaft, said last mentioned means comprisinga third shaft having a worm drive connection with the second shaft, anoperating lever for rendering the worm drive inactive, a cam carried bythe second shaft engageable by the lever for controlling the operationof said worm drive means,

a coil spring interposed between the lever and for reciprocating thetable and moving work carried by the table into an operative positionfor engagement with the cutting arms.

5. A machine of the class described comprising a base, a work-supportingtable reciprocably mounted upon the base, a main drive shaft supportedabove the table, cutter arms rockably mounted upon the main drive shaft,a second shaft carried by the base, cam means carried by the secondshaft for rocking the cutting arms, eccentric means carried by thesecond shaft for reciprocating the table and moving Work carried by thetable into an operative position for engagement with the cutting arms,and cutting means carried by the cutting arms and driven from said driveshaft.

6. A machine of the class described comprising a base, a work-supportingtable reciprocably mounted upon the base, a main drive shaft supportedabove the table, cutter arms rockably mounted upon the main drive shaft,a second shaft carried by the base, cam means carried by the secondshaft for rocking the cutting arms, ccentric means carried by the secondshaft for reciprocating the table and moving work carried by the tableinto an operative position for engagement with the cutting arms, aroller carried by the cutter arms for engaging said cam means, and meansfor adjustably holding said roller upon said rocker arm.

FRANK L. JOHNSON.

